Donore Harriers has a new national champion in the shape of 13 years old sensation Fathi Aden. Born in Somalia and a student at Synge Street School young Fathi ran a tactically brilliant race at the National Juvenile Even Age Cross Country Championships at Dundalk IT on Sunday (23/11/14). Tracking a lead group of about 12 athletes through the opening kilometre lap in the Boys under 14s race ensured that he was always in contention. As the race continued through the second longer 2 kilometres lap the lead group reduced in numbers. There were 5 in contention as the race hit the short steep incline with 600 metres to go. Cormac O’Rourke of Lagan Valley AC was having a great run. Jake Bagge, the Munster champion and one of the pre-race favourites was also in contention – as was Tony McCambridge of North Belfast Harriers. The Donore star was 5^th, but only a couple of metres back. As the race reached a short incline at the top of the bend for the last time young Fathi made the winning move and raced away from his pursuers over the final 250 metres. At the finish banner he had 20 metres to spare over O’Rourke with Bagge a couple of metres further back.

This was only Fathi Aden’s fifth competitive race and he is already Dublin and National champion. Gerry Naughton, his coach, gave the opinion that: “Fathi Aden is probably the most naturally gifted young distance runner in Ireland today. He also listens and executes race tactics to perfection. A mark of a great champion in the making…”

Fathi’s win was crucial to the Dublin team (144) in the county championship as they had just 6 points to spare over second-placed Cork (150). Mayo (204) came third.

There was also a county team medal for Suzanne Masterson in the Girls under 16s race over 4km. Suzanne, also in her first season, was a scoring member of the Dublin team (107) that won gold medals ahead of Wicklow (131) and Cork (215). She was lying in 28^th place at the end of the first of the 2 kilometres circuit, but faded in the latter stages to cross the line in 36^th position. Eliza NiThighearnaigh placed a disappointing 71^st in the same race, obviously not  comfortable with the soft, muddy ground conditions.

Sekeriye Ahmed stepped-up an age group to compete in the Boys under 16s race over 4km. He ran the race to gain experience and placed a creditable 80^th.

Results in brief:

National Juvenile Even Age Cross Country Championships at Dundalk IT (23/11/14)

Boys u/14s 3000m: 1^st Fathi Aden (gold medal on winning Dublin county team)

Girls u/16s 4000m: 36^th Suzanne Masterson (gold medal on winning Dublin county team); 71^st Eliza NiThighearnaigh

Boys u/16s 4000m: 80^th Sekeriye Ahmed

In the senior races, Barbara Cleary was 15th in the women’s race and Caoimhin Kelly who was 12th in the U23 race and Darren Hand in men’s race.  Great runs in Nottingham at the British and Irish masters, Jim McNamara was 2nd M75 and many team medals- well done Ann Woodlock 6th W70 , Anne Curley 14th W40 , John Dunne 7th M35 , Niall Lynch 8th M40, Joe Maguire 7th M75, Terry Mee  10th M70 and Barry Potts 8th M65. 

Martina 1st lady in Waterston Parkrun and Sam 1st lady in Tymon Parkrun, well done Rhona (41:20) for 3rd in Off the Laois 10k and George Brady was 4th in the Half marathon with 1:20:28.

The ladies novice race consisted of 4 x 1k loops of the largely flat and dry course in Avondale. Rhona Duane was first home for the team in 21^st

place. Karla Doran made her cross country debut for Donore and was a solid 28^th . Ashling Swaine was 35^th and Medbh Peavoy is racing her way back to fitness to finish 41^st. The team finished 5^th overall, a solid result considering that all of the novice team wasn’t represented.

The Masters race was an identical course to the novice route. Anne Curley led it out for some time, she was overhauled by eventual winner Jackie Carty (Kilmore) and there was also a battle with 2^nd placed Paula Grant (Portlaoise) but this was a commanding run just a month after the Berlin marathon and improved markedly on her Autumn cross country open the week before, Anne was 3^rd overall and silver W40 with a Dublin team gold also. Karen Behan had her trademark sprint finish to come over the line in 17^th place with Eva Campion finishing 39th. The team just missed the bronze by 5 points, 4^th of 10 teams was a fine result.

Donore Harriers novice men stepped up to the mark in Leinster, after achieving gold in Dublin they set their sights on medalling in the Leinster novice and they didn’t disappoint. In the beautiful setting of Avondale House on a challenging course all team members put in solid performances to take the deserved team silver medal. The team was lead home by Caoimhin Kelly who ran an excellent race slotted into a nice group on lap one and put himself into medal contention on lap two but finished out and excellent fourth place well clear of fifth. Next home was Darren Hand in 17^th, after starting well back on lap 1 he work through the field well particularly on the downhill sections. Darragh Fitzgibbon had a very solid race to finish just inside the top 20 and Luke Boland completed the team scorers with an excellent 36^th. Darren Hughes had a good race to come in at 52^nd with Bernard Byrne not far behind in 58^th and Killian O’Hora in 63^rd.

In the masters race Niall Lynch took the lead at the first corner and threw himself down the first downhill section to open up a gap on the field behind and managed to hold onto the lead for the 3 lap course and take the win in a good follow up to his M40 win at the Autumn Open Cross the previous week. Will Morris and Emmet O’Brian followed in 12^th and 15^th respectively in a big improvement on their outing for the Dublin Novice. Will took bronze in the M35 category. Final scorer on the team was Phill Hennessey in his first cross country race of the season and only a few weeks after his run in the Berlin marathon, this was enough to get Donore the silver medal well ahead of Raheny in 3^rd and only 3 points behind Liffey Valley in gold. Hugh Brosnan ran a solid race to finish 32^nd and Tom Fagan completed the Donore team coming in a commendable 58^th out of 113 runners.

Results in brief: –

Women’s Leinster Novice XC 4km

21^st Rhona Duane (15.47); 28^th Karla Doran (16.35); 35^th Ashling Swaine (16.47); 40^th Medbh Peavoy (16.58)

Team: 1^st Dublin City Harriers (20); 5^th Donore Harriers (124)

Men’s Leinster Novice XC 6km

4^th Caoimhin Kelly (20.51); 17^th Darren Hand (22.10); 19^th Daragh Fitzgibbon (22.20); 36^th Luke Boland (23.05); 52^nd Darren Hughes (24.09); 58^th Bernard Byrne (24.54); 63^rd Killian O’Hora (25.24)

Team: 1^st Liffey Valley AC (59); 2^nd Donore Harriers <Kelly, Hand, Fitzgibbon & Boland> (76); 3^rd Tullamore Harriers (87)

Women’s Leinster Masters XC 4km

3^rd Ann Curley (14.26); 17^th Karen Behan (15.43); 39^th Eva Campion (17.02)

Team: 1^st Rathfarnham WSAF (36); 4^th Donore Harriers (59)

Men’s Leinster Masters XC 6km

1^st Niall Lynch (21.07); 12^th Will Morris (22.35); 15^th Emmet O’Briain (22.39); 23^rd Phil Hennessy (23.01); 32^nd Hugh Brosnan (23.37); 58^th Tom Fagan (24.52)

Team: 1^st Liffey Valley (48); 2^nd Donore Harriers <Lynch, Morris, O’Briain, Hennessy> (51); 3^rd Raheny Shamrocks AC (120)

Other results: –

Amsterdam Marathon (19/10/14): – Ian Redican (3.27.45)

Tymon Parkrun 5km (25/10/14): – 12^th / 3^rd woman Samantha Conroy (21.00)

Marlay Parkrun 5km (25/10/14): – 6^th Paul Cummins (18.25)

Frankfurt Marathon (26/10/14): – 147^th / 29^th woman Claire Morrissey (3.22.00)

Leinster Schools Combined Championships at Athlone IT (22/10/14)
One gold (Max Carey), 2 silver (Alex Clarkin and Rolus Olosa) and a bronze (Lara O’Byrne) made it a successful day for Donore Harriers athletes at the Leinster Schools Combined championship at Athlone on Wednesday.

Results in brief: –   

MINOR GIRLS: 3^rd Lara O’Byrne; 18^th Tanisha Bissett
JUNIOR GIRLS: 9^th Martina Hughes
INTERMEMEDIATE GIRLS: 4^th Roisin Rynn-Cahill; 9^th Lauren Kennedy; 14^th Albhe Healy
MINOR BOYS: 1^st Max Carey; 11^th Jack Raftery
JUNIOR BOYS: 2^nd Alex Clarkin
INTERMEDIATE BOYS: 10^th Zak Higgins
SENIOR BOYS: 2^nd Rolus Olosa

Salestian College Road Race (4.2km) at Celbridge (23/10/14)

Oisin Fitzgibbon’s win in the 34^th running of the Salesian College road race means that Donore Harriers athletes have won the Fr. Charlie Archer Cup on each of the last 8 occasions.

Results in brief: –

1^st Oisin Fitzgibbon; 2^nd Stephen Gavin; 42^nd Ruairi Fitzgibbon; 66^th Tadgh Fitzgibbon

Make-A-Wish Witches & Wizards 5km Run at Phoenix Park (25/10/14)

Good results from Donore athletes in the inaugural Make-A-Wish run on Saturday. This novelty race will hopefully become a regular event and target more young athletes to take part.

Results in brief: –

2^nd Michael Gibbs (18.57); 3^rd Lucy McCann (19.51); 5^th Daniel Brady (21.06); 14^th Roisin Brady (25.59)

Donore Harriers was well represented in the 41^st edition of the Berlin Marathon on Sunday. This race made history as Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto broke the world marathon record in a phenomenal 2.02.57 as his compatriot Emmanuel Mutai, who finished second in 2:03:13, also broke the previous mark.

Anne Curley placed an excellent 39^th overall in the women’s class. She was a little over half-a-minute behind her season best set in winning the Derry Marathon earlier in the year and was the second Irishwoman to finish the race. Anne who has a best time of 2.53 has now completed 10 marathons, all inside the 3 hours barrier. Fergal Whitty narrowly missed his previous best time set in Dublin a couple of years ago. This was a fine return to best form for Fergal. He was the second Irishman across the finish line.

Results in brief: –

Men: 108^th Fergal Whitty M35 (2.34.48); 695^th Philip Hennessy (2.54.42); 942^nd Fred Kiernan M40 (2.57.55); 1690^th George Brady M35 (3.06.12); 3198^th Derek O’Neill M45 (3.18.54); 3536^thStephen Dawson (3.20.54); 5518^th Tony Griffin M55 (3.31.25); 10070^th Charlie O’Neill M60 (3.52.26);

Women: 39^th Anne Curley F40 (2.58.35); 140^th Alma Hanevy F35 (3.15.41) PB; 202^nd Breda Mahony F35 (3.19.42) PB; 3028^th Michelle Rowley F40 (4.17.25); 4057^th Michelle Dawson (4.34.14)

In a keenly contested New Ireland Rathfarnham 5km road race on Sunday  John Travers (14.28) had to settle for 4^th place as David McCarthy (14.13) of West Waterford AC ran out the winner ahead of Martin Fagan (14.21) of Mullingar Harriers. Travers and Fagan took the early pace in the race, but paid the price in the latter stages as they got reeled in by McCarthy. John also had to succumb to a strong finish from 3^rd placed Conor Rooney (14.21) of Raheny Shamrocks.

Results in brief: –

4^th John Travers (14.28); 47^th Oisin Fitzgibbon (16.25) 4^th in junior category; 56^th Henry English (16.41); 71^st Sam Gallagher (17.10) 5^th in junior category; 108^th Gerard McDonald M45 (18.04); 110^th Bernard Byrne (18.08); 121^st Niall J. O’Reilly (18.25); 159^th Grace Kennedy (19.12); 161^stBarbara Murray F40 (19.13); 186^th Sinead Graham (19.45); 214^th Karen Behan (20.20); 230^thFrank McNally M50 (20.41); 327^th Karen Crowley (22.29); 420^th Geraldine Lynch (24.11); 471^stEilish Joyce (24.38); 665^th Tony Jenkins M60 (27.49); 743^rd Michael Brophy M60 (28.56)

Team Results:

Men’s team – 1^st St. Abbans AC 66; 6^th Donore Harriers (Travers, Fitzgibbon, English, Gallagher) 170

Women’s Team – 1^st Dunboyne AC 80; 3^rd Donore Harriers (Kennedy, Murray, Graham, Behan) 123.

Emmet O’Briain placed second in the Liz McDonell Memorial 5km Cross Country race at Celbridge. This race, which is run on an undulating course on the grounds of the Castletown House estate, was won by Kevin Kelly (16.11) of St. Coca’s AC.

Results in brief: –

2^nd Emmet O’Briain (16.32); 8^th Bob Blake 17.40 (1^st in o/40 category); 10^th Stephen Gavin JNR (18.01), 17th Tom Fagan M45 (18.46); 60^th Terry Mee M70 (22.52); 69^th Mary Murphy (23.09) & 128^th Pauline Fagan (26.10).
Men’s Team Result: 1^st Donore Harriers (O’Briain; Blake; Gavin; Fagan).

The Slater Cup (club novice handicap) 6km race took place over 4 laps of the Magazine Fort lap last Tuesday evening. Newcomers Rory O’Connor and Colm O’Connell had a fine duel over a testing hilly course with Rory narrowly edging the ‘real time’ race. Victory in the ‘sealed handicap’ race went to the much improved Tom Fagan with Henry English placing second. Race organizer Iain Morrison said: “Tom had a fabulous run and was a deserving winner...”

Result in brief: –

1st Tom Fagan (24.32) allowed 4 minutes = 20.32; 2nd Henry English (22.28) allowed 1m.30s = 20.58; 3rd Rory O’Connor (21.14) scratch = 21.14; 4th Colm O’Connell (21.20) scratch = 21.14; 5th Bernard Byrne (23.52) allowed 2m.30s = 21.22; 6th Gerard McDonald (23.40) allowed 2m.15s = 21.25; 7th Niall O’Brien (25.24) allowed 3m.15s = 22.09; 8th Ian Redican (25.10) allowed 3 minutes = 22.10; 9th Eoin Hannon (24.36) allowed 2 minutes = 22.36; 10th Giovanni Borza (25.41) allowdd 2m.50s = 22.51; 11th Eoin George (27.40) scratch = 27.40.

Sam Allen placed second in both the 3.000m and One Mile races at the Bandon AC 50^thAnniversary Meeting (27/9/14). Thomas McCarthy of Bandon AC won both these races, but the 3km race was down to a ‘photo finish’. McCarthy placed 3^rd in the European club’s competition in Portugal on the previous weekend. This would indicate that Sam is making steady progress back to form after an injury lay-off. No times available.

Other results: –

Tymon Parkrun 5km (27/9/14) – 6^th Samantha Conroy F35 (21.18) first in women’s class

Marlay Parkrun 5km (27/9/14) – 3^rd Paul Cummins (17.49)

Moone Kilomarthon 26.2km (27/9/14) – 14^th Garvan Smith M40 (1.43.23); 15^th Sean Fox (1.43.23); 49^th Liam Hickey (2.01.27)

Footnote: –

First Irishwoman home in the Berlin Marathon was Mairead O’Rourke (2.58.16) of Mornington Chasers. You may have heard of them?

Juvenile Report:

Those in attendance at the Dublin Juvenile Cross-country League at Tymon Park on Sunday (28/9/14) may have witnessed for the first time a real future star in Irish athletics.  Fathi Aden made a conservative start to the Boys u/14s race, but at the halfway point of the 1.5km course swept past most of the leading group on an uphill section and with 400m remaining took over the lead and began opening a sizeable gap before winning with 25 to 30 metres to spare. Born in Somalia and a student at Synge Street School Fathi is obviously a very naturally talented athlete. This was certainly an impressive debut in the colours of Donore Harriers and as they say – watch this space!

The Girls u/16s race was again a race that held a lot of interest for the club with Lucy McCann impressing once again with a very fine 2^nd place finish. But another relative newcomer Suzanne Masterson also shows huge potential as she ran strongly throughout, particularly on the climbs, placing an excellent 3^rd. Eliza Ni Thighearnaigh ran her best race for some time and came home in 6^th.

Other notable performances came from Michael Gibbs who placed 3^rd in the Boys u/17s race – and by Grace Raftery and debutante Conor Mahony who both placed 6^th respectively in the Girls u/10s and Boys u/10s.

Full club results (non official)

Boys u/9s (500m) 10^th Joe Kinsella

Girls u/10s (700m) 6^th Grace Raftery

Boys u/10s (700m) 6^th Conor Mahony (debut); 24^th Oliver Hopkins

Boys u/11s (900m) 16^th Sean Kinsella (picked up an injury during race); 17^th Michael Barry

Girls u/13s (1300m) 23^rd Marie Cormican (debut); 32^nd Ellie Raftery

Boys u/13s (1300m) 20^th Alan Reid

Girls u/14s (1500m) 25^th Roisin Brady

Boys u/14s (1500m) 1^st Fathi Aden; 13^th Jack Connolly; 25^th James McDonagh (debut); 26^thChris Moloney

Girls u/16s (2500m) 2^nd Lucy McCann; 3^rd Suzanne Masterson; 6^th Eliza Ni Thighearnaigh

Boys u/16s (2500m) 11^th Gabhan O’Thighearnaigh (lost shoe during race)

Boys u/17s (3500m) 3^rd Michael Gibbs

Other juvenile results: –

Waterstown Parkrun 5km (27/9/14) – 17^th Shona Smyth u/15s (26.26) 4^th female overall

John Travers finished a very gallant 7^th in the Bupa Great North Mile in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne on Saturday. A field of ten high profile athletes made it a very competitive race with Homiyu Tesfaye (4.00.92) of Germany being the winner ahead of Aspel Kiprop of Kenya. John’s time of 4.03.68 put him just two places behind American superstar Bernard Lagat (4.02.14) and ahead of Augustine Choge (4.03.69) of Kenya and Charlie Grice (4.04.86), the 3^rd ranked British 1500m runner in 2014.

In the Grant Thornton Corporate Team Challenge in the Docklands (30/8/14) Ray Hynes (15.20) placed 2^ndbehind Conor Dooney (15.06) a member of Raheny Shamrocks AC.

Other results include: 15^th Gavin Keogh (15.59); 19^th Andrew Ledwith (16.08); 48^th Bob Blake M40 (17.12); 91^stNoel Conway (17.55); 108^th Tom Fagan M45 (18.10) PB; 113^th Stephen Dawson (18.14); 123^rd Niall O’Reilly (18.23); 129^th Joe Murphy (18.25) Kim Hickey (19.17), Sinead Graham 19.34), Rhona Duane (20.00),

In the scenic Lakes 10km at Blessington Graham Hopkins (34.22) placed 5^th overall and second in the M35 category: Other results include: – 11^th Will Morris M35 (35.41) 4^th in category; 16^th Darren Hand (36.54); 28^th Phil Hennessy M45 (38.26) 3^rd in category

Other results: –

Tymon Parkrun 5km (23/8/14): 7^th Tomas Griffin (20.19)

Tullamore Half Marathon (30/8/14): 70^th Tom Fagan M45 (1.28.53) PB

Tara 5km (30/8/14): 7^th Sam Allen (17.29) 2^nd in Junior Category

Waterstown Parkrun 5km: 1^st Michael Gibbs u/17s (18.45); 3^rd Jack Raftery u/14s (20.14); 5^th Daniel Brady u/16s (20.32); 16^th Luke Kelly u/14s (23.47) club debut

Naas Parkrun 5km: 1^st Emmet O’Briain (16.15)

Griffeen Parkrun 5km : 16^th Tom Fagan M45 (19.55)

Well done also to Liagh at the Great North Run and to Hilary in the Dingle half marathon.

Juvenile results: –

Waterstown Parkrun 5km:1^st Michael Gibbs u/17s (18.45); 3^rd Jack Raftery u/14s (20.14); 4^th Lucy McCann u/16s (20.16) 1^st female and 9 seconds short off course record; 5^th Daniel Brady u/16s (20.32); 16^thLuke Kelly u/14s (23.47) club debut; 18^th Claire O’Connor u/17s (24.01); 20^th Roisin Brady u/14s (24.43); 29^th Shona Smyth u/14s (26.18); 36^th Chris Moloney u/14s (27.54) club debut; 46^th Elena Gaina u/15s (30.12)

Naas Parkrun 5km: 68^th Oliver Hopkins u/10s (25.34)

Both Sean Lawlor and Jack Rudden Kelly performed admirably whilst representing Ireland and the Ireland Development Team respectively in the Celtic Games at Santry on Saturday. The Celtic Games is an international juvenile match for u/16 and u/18 athletes with an emphasis on experience, camaraderie and encouragement.

First into action on Saturday was Jack Rudden Kelly in the Boys u/16s 100m Hurdles. Jack (13.92) ran a solid race placing second behind national champion Daniel Ryan (13.58) and ahead of Scotland’s Taylor Roy (14.17). Jack anchored the Irish Development u/16s 4 x 100m Mixed Relay Team in the penultimate race of the day. The result of the race was: – 1. Ireland (45.42); 2. Ireland Development (46.92); 3. Wales (47.75); 4. Scotland (47.97).

Sean Lawlor had plenty to deal with in the Boys u/18s 200m. The rain came, the start was delayed due to technical issues, there was a faulty start and he got the dreaded inside lane. The race proved to be a tough assignment for Sean. Cameron Tindle (22.07) of Scotland led from gun to finish line whilst Sean (22.40) was holding second position. But the fatigue from his previous week’s efforts in the National League final took its toll over the final 10 metres and he got edged out by Craig Newell (22.32) of the Development Team. Sion Roberts (22.79) of Wales placed 4^th.

Sean soon returned to action in the Boys u/18s 4 x 100m relay. He had a blistering run on the final leg gaining ground on the Wales team (42.80) only to lose narrowly (see photo). The Ireland team recorded a time of 42.89 with the Development Team 3^rd on 43.64 and Scotland 4^th on 44.10.

Results from the Dublin Open Graded meeting No. 8 at Tallaght (August 6th)

200m ‘C’: 2^nd Sean O’Broin M45 (25.53)

200m ‘B’: 4^th Ailise Keating (jnr) (28.84)

800m ‘A’: 8^th David Campbell (2.04.44)

1500m ‘C’: 3^rd Luke Boland (4.27.84)

National Masters Track & Field Championships at Tullamore (10/8/14)

A total of 8 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze for Donore Harriers athletes with Niall Allen claiming an impressive 3 victories.

200m M3 Category: 2^nd Sean O’Broin (24.96)

400m M1 M1: 6^th Emmet O’Briain (55.60)

800m M1: 4^th Henry English (2.04.68); 5^th Emmet O’Briain (2.05.24)

800m M8: 1^st Terry Mee (3.00.96)

1500m M1: 4^th Henry English (4.24.50)

1500m M8: 1^st Terry Mee (6.04.14)

5000m M3: 5^th Ian O’Leary (17.18.70)

5000m M9: 1^st Jim McNamara (21.44.02)

56lb Hammer M2: 1^st Niall Allen (6.78m)

56lb Hammer M8: 1^st Tony Jenkins (4.91m)

Shot Putt M2: 1^st Niall Allen (10.83m)

Shot Putt M8: 2^nd Tony Jenkins (8.53m)

Discus M2: 1^st Niall Allen (34.16m)

Javelin M8: 3^rd Tony Jenkins (21.08m)

Women’s 3Km Walk M4: 1^st Anne Gormley (21.11.04)

Other results: –

DLR Bay 10km (August 4th) at Dun Laoghaire: 6^th Patrick Moriarty (35.40)

Galtee Runners 8km (August 8th) at Mitchelstown: 3^rd Aogan McDomhnaill (25.41)

Streets of Athboy 5km (August 8th): 10^th Cathal McCarron (16.36)